Roger Wicker "representation that reflects the values of Mississippi"

In an AP release today on the Musgrove - Wicker race for Trent Lott's vacated Senate seat, Roger Wicker made one very interesting statement.

"When it's all said and done, Mississippians will look at 13 years of mainstream conservative Republican representation that reflects the values of Mississippi."

What are these "mainstream conservative Republican values"? Let's take a look at a few of Roger Wicker's votes and see if they "reflect the values of Mississippi" .

Oct 31, 2007 - HR1025 Wicker voted against assistance to workers who lose their jobs due to the effect of globalization.

Wicker is from Tupelo. There is no area in Mississippi harder hit by the effects of globalization than the surrounding area of Tupelo. Just ten years ago, Tupelo was the shining industrial star of Mississippi with its burgeoning upholstered furniture industry. There were furniture manufacturers ranging from gigantic (Action Industries) to mom and pop outfits littered throughout the 40 mile radius of Tupelo. The supporting industries such as fabrics were also well represented in northeast Mississippi.

Fast forward to today and you see shuttered factories and closed shops growing in number by the week. Many Mississippians have seen their jobs replaced by the cheap labor of Mexico or China. Corporations have chosen to relocate overseas at a fraction of the labor cost, and minus pesky things like employee benefits, minimum wage or fair wage laws, and American safety standards.

Jan 10, 2007 - HR018 Wicker voted against increasing minimum wage to $7.25.

It goes without saying that Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the union. According to research done in 2006, 155,000 Mississippians would benefit from even a modest rise in the minimum wage. Minimum wage laws had not been updated in TEN years prior to this legislation. Those on the dirty end of the stick saw their wages frozen in time for a decade. These jobs likely also have no benefits and leave the employee helplessly stuck well below the poverty line.

Oct. 27, 2007 - HR1009 Wicker voted against adding 2 to 4 million children to SCHIP eligibility

SCHIP provides health care to poor children. Roger Wicker voted against making sure an additional two to four million poor American children had access to health care. I don't know how many of those poor children reside in Mississippi, but I am sure it is a disproportionately large number in comparison to the rest of the U.S.

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These votes do not reflect what I call Mississippi values. In the Mississippi I know we love our neighbor just as we were taught in Sunday school. Voting against a minimum wage hike after ten years of stagnation, voting against temporary benefits for those losing their jobs due to our changing trade laws, and voting against access to health care for children who have no say in their socioeconomic condition does not reflect the values of my Mississippi.

MS-SEN: Roger Wicker and the Working Man

As the Representative for the First Congressional District, Roger Wicker posted one of the most abysmal voting records on file. In particular his stance against the working man is what irks me the most. You would think a man from the blue collar town of Tupelo ,with Southern Baptist roots, would have the best interests of the working man in mind when he cast his vote in Washington, DC. Well meet Rubber Stamp Roger, no friend of the working man.

Has Roger ever stood up to the Republican powers that be and cast an important vote outside of the party mainstream? Whatever comes down from the GOP establishment or K Street is Roger's marching orders. GovTrack, a non-partisan website that tracks each bill and compiles statistics for every member of Congress has Wicker labeled as "Radical Republican", the most extreme ranking possible. By their chart he is the GOP equivalent of Henry Waxman or Ted Kennedy.

How out of touch with the working folks of Mississippi is Roger Wicker? Just last year he voted against the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which raised the minimum wage from $5.15to $7.25. With the large number of working poor in Mississippi, you would think Roger would vote in the best interests of his constituency. Nope. Roger voted for the K Street lobbyists and the money hungry corporations who think it fair to pay somebody for a 40 hour week and still leave them well below the poverty line. Their god is the free market and they don't care who gets sacrificed at the alter of unrestrained capitalism. Survival of the fittest.

Let's keep Roger in North Mississippi. As of a month ago, Wicker had raised 3 million dollars to Musgrove's half of a million. Ronnie is going to need our help.

An Awkward and Interesting Race To Come?

From a Sun Herald article I learn that:

Musgrove and Wicker are longtime friends and shared an apartment in Jackson when they served together in the state Senate.

I'm curious as to how this might effect the tone of a Musgrove vs. Wicker race.

Are their bonds still so strong that they would stay away from the low blow?

Will both use surrogates and independent expenditures to do their attacks to avoid looking like they are attacking a friend?

Or will all be fair in love war and (add) politics?


If Musgrove or the DSCC decide that attacking Wicker is a good idea (and it is) Will Bardwell suggests some attacks:

SCHIP: Wicker opposed expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program earlier this year in an effort to deny extension of government-funded health care to 9 million uninsured children. Nearly 50 Republicans supported the bill in the House of Representatives despite the White House's opposition, but Wicker wasn't one of them. Undoubtedly, he'd defend the vote as an exercise in fiscal conservatism, but weighed against the health of 9 million children, that argument could sound hollow -- particularly in a cash-strapped state like Mississippi.

Big Oil: Way back in January, Wicker opposed a Democratic-led bill to repeal tax breaks for U.S. oil companies and fund renewable energy programs. Wicker also has accepted nearly $330,000 from energy companies over his congressional career. Wicker's not the only one, but that only goes to paint him into the just-another-Washington-insider corner. I can't think of any good answer that Wicker could muster.

Iraq: Mississippi is as conservative a state as there is, but Wicker's voting history on the Iraq war might still provide Musgrove some traction. Back in June, a poll showed that more than 40 percent of Republicans favored some form of troop withdrawal from the region, but Wicker has been as steady a rubber stamp for the White House as any member of Congress; as far as I can tell, Wicker has voted to approve all $482 billion for Iraq war funding. That's a big number to have hanging around one's neck for such an unpopular (and continuing) engagement. Even in deep-red Mississippi, this issue can play with moderate-to-mildly conservative voters that usually vote Republican.

Minimum wage: Wicker opposed the narrowly successful effort to raise the minimum wage to $7.25. That vote could be used to hurt Wicker among rural, blue-collar voters that hurt Musgrove in 2003.

College loans: Mississippi has plenty of education problems on its own without Wicker's opposition to a bipartisan effort to cut the interest rates on federally subsidized student loans in half. More than 120 Republican congressmen supported the College Student Relief Act, but Wicker wasn't one of them. Musgrove would do well to make him explain why.

I do hope that whomever we Democrats choose can take the fight with proper financing to the Mississippi and National Republican machines.

Update: Wicker gave Barbour $10,000 in 2003 in his race against Musgrove so I doubt that friendship is still as strong.

Bryant Pitches; Franks Hits It Out Of The Park

Dewey Phil Bryant held a press conference today to highlight a business groups endorsement and to attack Jamie Franks for his support of organized labor. This is Franks' response:

"My opponent is proud to have the support of an organization that continually has fought against an increase in the minimum wage. As someone who worked his way through college, I am proud to fight for our working families and for an increase in the minimum wage.

As for supporting the creation of a Department of Labor; consolidating state government is the conservative thing to do. Judging by my opponent's pathetic record as state auditor, he knows little about running an effective and efficient government agency.

As the only state in the union without a Department of Labor, taxpayers are missing out on the tens of millions of federal funds that our state government would be entitled to if we had such a department. Its creation would streamline services and consolidate six or seven state bureaucracies into one, providing employers and workers with a one-stop shop, saving taxpayers money."

If you want the endorsement of an organization, you better be prepared to answer for the main positions of that organization. The NFIB has consistently opposed legislation that would support working people and we can only assume that they will expect a similar record from Dewey Phil. I'll gladly side with regular working people any day over folks who seem to think that someone can reasonably support themselves or a family on five dollars an hour.